Desktop Linux has limits, says Gartner

The technology research firm Gartner has released a study saying that migrating desktops to Linux makes sense only in a very limited range of situations.

The study said Linux had had significant success on servers, many of which were dedicated to running a single application.

However, it said, "the environment for Linux on the desktop is significantly different. Knowledge workers use PCs to run diverse combinations of applications. For these users, migration costs will be very high, because all Windows applications must be replaced or rewritten."

"As a result, migrating desktops to Linux only makes sense in a very narrow, limited range of situations. The Linux migration should be considered only if there are relatively few applications, and these applications are fixed-function or low-function, such as data entry, call centre or bank teller/platform automation. In these cases, the cost of migration may be low enough to justify the move to Linux," the study said.

The study said it mainly made sense to shift desktops running older versions of Windows like 95 or 98 to Linux, rather than newer versions, like XP, which it said were more stable.

A number of studies have been released recently showing Windows is in some way superior to Linux - last week, Microsoft released benchmarks which it said proved Linux on the mainframe performed poorly against Windows 2003 as far as value for money went.

This week a Microsoft-commissioned report claimed that creating and maintaining a custom Web-based application with Java and Linux was more expensive than using Microsoft software.

Asked why the study on desktop migration was released now, even though it is dated August 8, Gartner's Asia-Pacific research director for servers and storage, Phillip Sargeant, said: "That date refers to the time when research notes were made. It has been released when it was completed."

He said the costs of hardware upgrades (if needed), software and training for a switch-over had been factored in. However, he said ongoing costs like lost production due to worm or virus attacks had not been taken into account.

The study says the lack of Microsoft support is one reason why migration of older Windows versions makes sense - the company no longer officially supports these versions.

However, given that Microsoft's support has rarely been rated very highly by the tech industry, Sargeant was asked why this was mentioned as a factor. He said it depended on the region - "I've had cases where the support had been mediocre but I've also known of cases where I would use the word excellent."